Juana in a Million

The Fringe may be inundated with monologues, but it takes a strong performer to illuminate the text and engage the audience all the way through. Mexican actress Vicky Araico Casas is one such performer, making this story of illegal immigrants to the UK if not quite one in a million, then certainly a stand-out piece on the monologue menu.

She plays Juana, a young woman who leaves Mexico’s violence and drug cartels behind in search of a better life in London. But with no official papers and little comprehension of the English language, Juana is ripe for exploitation. Desperate to succeed, she takes a job in a Mexican restaurant, where she’s groped by her sexist boss and manipulated by her manager. Ever hopeful, she starts afresh, only to find she’s caught in a caustic cycle which seems determined to break her spirit.

Vivacious and highly watchable, Araico Casas fills the small stage with her energetic, intensely physical performance, creating near-dance routines out of the natural rhythms of Juana’s mundane jobs. She’s accompanied by a lone musician, whose trumpet-playing and sound effects lend the piece an almost spiritual quality at times.

As well as capturing Juana’s naïve optimism and dogged determination, Araico Casas inhabits a range of characters with humour and pathos: the oaf Juana has to share her bed with, the fellow Mexican who promises to help but lets her down, the mother she has left behind.

It’s a poignant piece of work, and there’s perhaps no better vehicle than a monologue for the story of a woman alone in a hostile world.